lEx  iCtbrta 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Sver'tbing  comes  t'  him  wbo  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/eastbrooklyn163700east 


EAST  BROOKLYN 

1637       *       1860        *  1922 

BEING  a  BRIEF  ACCOUNT 
*  VENERABLE  COMMUNITY 
0/ HONORABLE  TRADITIONS 
WHOSE  NAME 

THE 

EAST  BROOKLYN 
SAVINGS  BANK 

is  PRIVILEGED  to  PRESERVE: 

The  Waal-Bogt,  When,  in  1637,  the  Walloons 
Purchased  the  Land  from  the  Indians;  East  Brooklyn, 
When,  in  1860,  the  Bank  was  Chartered  ;  Part  of  the 
Borough  of  Brooklyn,  City  of  New  York,  When,  in 
1922,  there  is  Opened,  at  Bedford  and  DeKalb 
Avenues,  Where  Turned  the  Old  Cripplebush  Road, 

zA  Home  for  The 

EAST  BROOKLYN  SAVINGS  BANK 


5: 


2 


Historical  Data  Assembled 
and  Put  in  Narrative  Form 
by 


CLARENCE  A.  HEBB,  A.M. 


1  he  author  acknowledges  indebtedness  to:  Stiles,  History  of 
Kings  County,  Including  Brooklyn;  History  of  the  City  of 
Brooklyn;  Armbruster,  The  Eastern  District  of  Brooklyn; 
Lamb,  History  of  the  City  of  Nev)  York;  Booth,  History 
of  the  City  of  New  York;  Ostrander,  History  of  Brooklyn  and 
Kings  County;  Bergen,  Early  Settlers  of  Kings  County;  Man- 
ual of  the  Council  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn,  1864;  The  Eagle 
and  Brooklyn,  History  of  Brooklyn  and  Kings  County;  also 
to  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society  for  the  use  of  its  library; 
also  to  various  individuals  for  reminiscences,  records  and  pho- 
tographs; to  the  late  John  H.  Ireland,  to  Frank  M.  Avery, 
William  A.  Graham,  Henry  B.  Vanderveer,  A.  Remsen  Boerum 
and  to  daughters  of  the  late  Samuel  C.  Barnes,  Miss  Emma 
Barnes,  Mrs.  Anna  B.  Robbins,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Wyckoff; 
to  Sic.  Cederstrom,  for  the  use  of  farm  maps  of  Brooklyn,  to 
Koch  &  Wagner,  architects,  and  especially  to  David  Morehouse, 
president  of  the  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank,  for  helpful  criti- 
cisms and  suggestions. 


THE    BROOKLYN    EAGLE  PRESS 


Father  of  the  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank 


— //<    bequeathed  to  it  his 
largi 's  t    p  ossession — w  hich 

Was  CHARACTER. 


Trustees,  1922 
of  the 

EAST  BROOKLYN  SAVINGS  BANK 

{With  Date  of  Election) 
* 

William  A.  Graham      -----  1895 

Henry  Von  Glahn    -       -       -       -       -  1898 

John  T.  Barry       -   1902 

Robert  L.  Wensley   1906 

Edgar  J.  Phillips  ------  1906 

A.  Remsen  Boerum   1909 

Clinton  P.  Case    -   1911 

Harry  A.  Moody       -       -       -       -       -  1911 

Alfred  S.  Hughes  ------  1912 

James  Sherlock  Davis       -       -       -       -  1914 

Edward  F.  Geer     -       -       -       -       -       -  1914 

Luther  M.  Werner   -----  1915 

David  Morehouse  -       -       -       -       -       -  1915 

Peter  F.  Carroll       -       -       -       -       -  1919 

William  A.  Higgins   1920 

Henry  B.  Vanderveer       -  1921 

Walter  F.  Wells   1922 


Building  Committee:  Clinton  P.  Case,  chairman; 
James  Sherlock  Davis,  vice-chairman;  William  A. 
Graham  and  David  Morehouse. 


OME  to  the  crossing  of  Bedford  and 
DeKalb  avenues,  and  you  will  see,  on 
the  southeast  corner,  the  new  home  of 
the  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank. 

The  building  itself,  its  Renaissance 
architecture,  its  imposing  columns,  the 
beauty  and  strength  merged  in  its  lines, 
will  compel  admiration.  Your  memory  will  supply,  in 
contrast,  a  picture  of  the  old  brick  home  of  the  bank 
at  Franklin  and  Myrtle  avenues,  a  veteran  of  half  a 
century  of  service. 

But  your  memory,  if  it  be  normal,  won't  go  back 
300  years  to  give  you  a  picture  of  the  traditions  of  the 
bank,  its  antecedents  in  a  community  that  was  one  of 


EAST  BROOKLYN:  Its  NAME  PRESERVED 


the  beginnings  of  Brooklyn.  It  may  not  even  go  back 
sixty  years  to  the  origin  of  the  bank  in  the  unselfish 
enterprise  of  an  austere  schoolmaster. 

Samuel  C.  Barnes,  the  schoolmaster,  was  the  father 
of  the  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank.  He  bequeathed 
to  it  his  largest  possession — which  was  character.  After 
all,  it  was  a  rich  legacy,  for  the  story  of  the  bank  is 
more  than  a  story  of  money.  Of  the  money,  it  may 
be  said  briefly  that  the  bank  in  sixty  years  has  been  the 
custodian  of  125,000  accounts,  and  its  deposits  have 
grown  from  $15,000  in  1862  to  a  thousand  times  that 
in  1922. 

Pause  a  moment  before  the  new  building.  Its 
Historic  foundations  are  laid  in  historic  ground.  You  stand  at 
Ground  a  turn  of  the  old  Cripplebush  road,  a  highway  that  out- 
lived its  usefulness  when  the  fertile  farms  of  the  section 
were  criss-crossed  with  city  streets  and  converted  into 
city  lots.  In  those  days,  the  generation  before  the  Civil 
War,  the  section  was  known  as  East  Brooklyn. 

You  stand  where,  in  the  summer  of  1776,  the 
Continental  and  British  arms  clashed  in  the  Battle  of 
Long  Island.  The  names  of  Washington,  Stirling  and 
Putnam  come  to  mind;  how  the  Revolutionary  patriots 
were  outnumbered  and  outflanked;  how  the  redoubt  at 
Fort  Putnam,  now  known  as  Fort  Greene,  was  unequal 
to  its  task;  how  the  enemy  was  eluded  by  the  astonishing 
retreat  by  night  across  the  river.  The  American  line 
extended  from  Wallabout  Bay  to  Gowanus,  and  was  not 
far  from  where  the  new  bank  building  stands — to  the 
North  and  West.    The  British  line  was  to  the  South. 


EAST  BROOKLYN 


Its  NAME  PRESERVED 


The  Prison  Ship  Jersey 

WHICH  LAY  IN  VVALLABOUT  BAY  DURING  THE  REVOLUTION! 


Off  to  the  North,  in  Wallabout  Bay,  after  the  battle, 
came  the  prison  ships,  to  remain  during  the  six  years  of 
the  British  occupation.  Aboard  these  hulks  of  tragedy 
and  horror,  the  old  jersey  and  her  satellites,  there 
perished,  in  the  acme  of  human  misery,  11,000  citizens 
and  sailors,  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  the  American 
Revolution.  A  sacred  shaft  is  our  Martyrs'  Monument 
at  Fort  Greene. 

But  the  traditions  of  East  Brooklyn  and  its  bank  go 
far  back  beyond  the  days  of  the  Revolution.  It  is  now 
140  years  since  the  prison  ships  lay  in  Wallabout  Bay. 
The  community  was  nearly  that  many  years  old  when 
the  struggle  for  Independence  was  won. 

It  is  a  venerable  community.  And  for  nearly  200 
years  it  was  known  as  the  Wallabout. 

Today  it  is  given  to  the  bank  to  preserve  for  pos- 
terity the  name  East  Brooklyn. 

P  a  a  e  Seven 

&  igJE 

l  mm 


1637:  The  WALLOONS  at  WALLABOUT 


THE  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  shortly  followed  to  the 
New  World  by  the  Walloons.  Like  the  Pilgrims, 
the  Walloons  were  religious  refugees  who  had  found  an 
asylum  in  Holland — Holland,  which  in  our  day  still 
shelters  refugees.  They  were  persecuted  Protestants 
from  the  Belgic  Provinces,  who  had  not,  as  had  the 
Dutch  in  1579,  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Spanish 
sovereignty.  Often  referred  to  as  Huguenots,  these  people 
from  along  the  Meuse  were  strangers  or  foreigners  to  the 
Dutch — Waalsche^  whence  the  name,  Walloons.  Thirty 
Dutch  Vessel  families  of  them  came  to  the  New  Netherlands  in  1623, 
Families  aboard  the  first  vessel  of  colonists  sent  over  by  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company.  And  it  was  destined  that  one 
of  these  families  should  be  the  first  settlers  at  Wallabout 
Bay,  and  become  the  ancestors  of  a  long  and  multiplied 
line  of  sturdy,  worthy  Brooklynites. 

The  original  Wallabouter  was  Joris  (George)  Jansen 
Rapalje.  He  and  his  wife,  whose  name  was  Catalyntie 
Trico,  proceeded  with  companions  up  the  Hudson  to 
Fort  Orange,  now  Albany,  when  they  arrived  from 
Holland.  They  lived  for  three  years  at  the  trading  post 
that  the  Dutch  had  established  there.  In  the  meantime, 
in  1626,  came  Peter  Minuit,  who  purchased  Manhattan 
Island  from  the  Indians  for  the  equivalent  of  $24  in  beads 
and  buttons,  and  built  a  fort  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
island,  which  he  called  New  Amsterdam.  Rapalje  came 
down  the  Hudson,  and  lived  for  a  number  of  years  near 
the  fort  with  his  family. 

As  the  colony  grew,  Rapalje,  as  well  as  his  neighbors, 
had  an  eager  eye  on  the  fair  land  across  the  river — 


1637:    The  WALLOONS   at  WALLABOUT 


Long  Island.  In  1636  the  New  Amsterdamers  began 
to  deal  with  the  Indians  for  farms,  and  there  were 
numerous  realty  transactions  similar  to  that  negotiated  by 
Minuit  in  1626.  Settlers  moved  across  the  river  to  till 
the  soil — to  Gowanus,  Amersfoort  (Flatlands),  Mid- 
woudt  (Flatbush),  Gravesend,  New  Utrecht,  "The 
Ferry,"  Bushwick,  Newtown,  Jamaica,  Breuckelen 
(Brooklyn)  and  the  Wallabout.  Rapalje  in  1637  bought 
a  farm  of  335  acres  south  and  east  of  Wallabout  Bay. 

Nature,  in  making  Long  Island,  had  provided  a  Land 
of  Promise  for  the  adventurous  settlers.    Hudson,  after 

  his  voyage  in  1609,  had  told 

what  sort  of  place  it  was — "as 
pleasant  with  grass  and  flowers 
and  goodly  trees  as  ever  they 
had  seen,  and  very  sweet 
smells  came  from  them."  The 
Indians,  dressed  in  deerskins, 
and  decked  in  feathers  and 
furs,  had  brought  to  Hudson's 
men  corn  and  tobacco,  which 
they  had  raised  on  the  Island. 
So  the  fertile  fields  where  the 
maize  and  tobacco  grew,  the 
low  lying  shores  where  the 
sedge  abounded,  the  sandy 
bays  and  inlets  lavishly  supplied  with  fish  and  oysters, 
beckoned  to  the  settlers,  and  perhaps  reminded  them  of 
their  old  home  country.  Back  from  the  shores  sloped 
the  hills,  capped  with  woods,  "full  of  great,  tall  oaks." 

Page  Sine  «- .  X 


Silver  Tankard,  a  Wedding 
Gift  to  Sarah  Rapalje,  in  1647 


Rapalje 
Buys  at 
Wallabout 


1637:   The  WALLOONS   at  WALLABOUT 


In  the  woods  was  no  end  of  game,  beast  and  bird.  Food, 
skins,  furs  and  feathers  were  had  for  the  hunting  of  the 
deer,  foxes,  turkeys,  geese,  partridges  and  quail. 

The  settlers  found  the  richest  soil  at  Wallabout  Bav, 
Gowanus  and  Flatlands,  and  these  were  the  first  localities 
cultivated.  Shortly  the  whole  stretch  of  shore  lands, 
from  Gowanus  to  Newtown  Creek,  was  broken  by  the 
plow.  East  of  Wallabout  Bay,  the  entire  area  extending 
to  Newtown  Creek  and  to  Maspeth  was  purchased  from 
the  Indians  for  "eight  fathoms  of  duffel  (coarse  woolen 
cloth),  eight  fathoms  of  wampum,  twelve  kettles,  eight 
adzes  and  eight  axes,  with  some  knives,  beads  and  awl 
blades."  This  property  was  acquired  in  1647  by  Hans 
Hansen  Bergen,  a  native  of  Bergen,  Norway,  who  came 
from  Holland  in  1633,  and  it  adjoined  the  tract  that 
Joris  Rapalje  had  bought. 
Sarah  Rapalje  Bergen,  in  the  year  that  he  bought  his  farm,  married 
Hans  Bergen  Sarah  Rapalje,  daughter  of  his  neighbor,  Joris.  Sarah  was 
a  notable  person,  for,  born  in  1625,  she  was  the  first 
white  girl  born  in  the  Empire  State.  Her  birthplace 
was  probably  Fort  Orange,  though  Brooklyn  has  claimed 
the  distinction.  She  was  one  of  eleven  children  of  Joris 
Rapalje,  was  herself  twice  married,  and  had  twelve 
children,  six  of  them  Bergens  and  six  of  them  Bogarts. 
Her  second  husband  was  Teunis  Gysbert  Bogaert,  who 
after  the  British  occupation,  took  out  a  new  patent  for 
the  Bergen  land.  Ultimately  part  of  the  property  was 
handed  down  to  the  Johnsons,  the  family  of  which  Gen. 
Jeremiah    Johnson    (1766-185  2),    thrice    Mayor  of 

Page  Ten 


1637:    The  WALLOONS   at  WALLABOUT 


the  old  city  of  Brooklyn,  was  a  distinguished  member. 

Joris  Rapalje  had  four  sons  and  seven  daughters,  and 
he  named  the  sons  Jacob,  Jan,  Jeronimus  and  Daniel. 
Jacob  was  killed  by  the  Indians — for  the  settlers  had 
intermittent  warfare  with  the  local  tribes  of  red  men. 
Of  the  daughters  in  the  family,  besides  Sarah,  one  was 
married  to  Rem  Jansen  van  der  Beeck,  and  the  sons  of 
this  Rem  became  the  Remsens,  and  here  originated  all 
the  Remsens  in  the  United  States.  Rem  and  Remsen, 
and  Rem  Remsen,  were  good  old  names,  long  preserved. 
The  Board  of  Trustees  of  Kings  County  had  a  Rem 
Remsen  as  a  member  continuously  from  1727  to  1776. 

Another  sister  of  Sarah  married  a  Ryerse,  whence 
came  the  Ryersons.  So  started  from  the  Wallabout 
numerous  Brooklyn  families  whose  names  have  been 
written  large  in  the  history  of  the  community — Rapelyes, 
Bergens,  Remsens,  Ryersons,  Nostrands,  Schencks,  Skill- 
mans,  Johnsons,  Boerums,  Spaders  and  others. 


Origin  of 
the  Remsens 


First  Picture  of  New  Amsterdam 
showinc  long  island  and  wallabout  creek  in  the  background.  engraved 

IN"  HOLLAND,  FROM  A  SKETCH  MADE  BY  A  DUTCH  OFFICER  IN  1635 

e  Eleven 


HIS 

Rapalje 


Catalyi 


Rapali 


t 

alynne 

HER  M 

Hans 

T 


Hans 
HIS  M  \R  K 

Bergen 


facsimile  OF   Teunis  Gyshert  Bogaert'. 


S  AUTOGRAPH 


WAAL-BOGTGmw.-  EAST  BROOKLYN 


W: 


AAL-BOGT,  Waale-Boght,  Wahlebocht,  Wallo- 
nenboght,  Wallaboucht,  Wallabout — so  it  has  been 
spelled.  The  name  has  provided  historians  with  disputes 
as  to  origins.  Whether  it  originally  signified  the  Bogt  of 
the  Waal,  that  is,  the  bend  of  the  inner  harbor,  or  whether  it 
meant  the  Bogt  of  the  Walloons,  or  bay  of  the  foreigners, 
the  reader  may  guess.  At  all  events,  this  bend  was  a 
big  round  bay,  fashioned  in  a  way  to  suggest  that  Nature 
had  taken  a  huge  bite  out  of  the  north  shore  of  our 
Brooklyn.  Bigness  and  roundness,  and  sandy  shore 
fringed  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  sedge,  have  long  since 
been  crowded  from  the  map  by  the  invasion  of  great  para- 
phernalia of  commerce  and  industry.  The  Navy  Yard, 
the  Cob  Dock,  the  railroad  terminal,  the  market,  with 
their  wondrous  works,  have  left  little  bay  to  the  Wallabout. 
But  the  old  Wallabout  Bay — picture  it,  if  you  will, 
Wallabout  as  a  broad  letter  U.  The  shore  line  at  the  base  of  the 
Bay  letter  was  originally  the  line  of  our  present  Flushing 
avenue.  To  the  left,  at  the  base,  was  marshy  land  that 
has  become  the  City  Park.  At  the  upper  left  tip  of 
the  U  in  the  Colonial  days  was  Remsen's  tide  mill,  with 
a  dam  confining  the  lower  left  hand  corner  of  the  bay, 
forming  a  mill  pond. 

Over  to  the  East,  at  the  base  of  the  right  hand 
upright  of  our  U  was  the  mouth  of  a  creek,  Wallabout 
Creek,  or  Rennegaconck,  as  the  Indians  called  it.  Where 
the  creek  entered  the  Bay  is  the  site  of  the  Naval 
Hospital,  and  it  was  here  also  that  Joris  Rapalje  built  his 
home  when  he  came  to  live  permanently  on  his  farm. 
He  began  serving  as  magistrate  in  Breuckelen  in  1655. 


WAAL-BOGT     Grows:     EAST  BROOKLYN 


Bedford  Corners 

NOW   BEDFORD   AVENUE   AND   FULTON   STREET.      IN    1662  THE  "UNOCCUPIED   WOODLAND   SITUATED  IN 
THE    REAR    OF   JORIS    RAPALJE"   WAS    GRANTED    TO    A    GROUP    OF    WAI.LABOUTERS,    INCLUDING  JORI3 
RAPALJE,   TEUN1S   BOGAERT   AND   HANS  BERGEN 


The  creek  itself  was  about  a  mile  long,  and  its  length 
marked  the  northern  boundary  of  the  land  Rapalje  bought 
from  the  Indians.  The  land  extended  along  the  creek  to 
"a  certain  swamp  (kreuplebush)  to  a  place  where  the 
water  runs  over  the  stones."  This  was  the  low  wooded 
land  north  of  the  present  Flushing  avenue,  about  at  Marcy, 
and  was  later  known  as  Johnson's  wood.  Kreuplebush, 
originally  het  kreuplebosch,  was  also  interpreted  as  a  thicket 
or  copse,  extending  over  a  stretch  of  ground  from  the 
head  of  Wallabout  Creek  to  Newtown  Creek.  The  word 
came  to  be  Cripplebush,  and  was  given  to  a  highway,  also 
called  the  road  to  Newtown.  This  road  ran  from  Bedford 
Corners  (Bedford  avenue  and  Fulton  street)  northward 
along  the  line  of  Bedford  avenue  to  DeKalb,  eastward  to 
Nostrand,  and  northward  again  about  to  Myrtle,  where  it 
struck  off  "cross  lots"  to  Newtown,  skirting  the  Wallabout 
settlement.  There  was  also  a  hamlet  known  as  Cripple- 
bush,  north  of  Bedford,  but  the  odd  name  did  not  survive 
for  either  the  highway  or  the  village. 


WAAL-BOGT  Grows 


EAST  BROOKLYN 


Rapalje's  farm  extended  from  the  Bay  to  the  marshes, 

or  about  from  Grand  avenue  to  Marcy.    To  the  south 

it  reached  as  far  as  the  woods,  which  began  at  DeKalb 

avenue.    Across  the  creek,  the  northern  boundary,  lay 

the  Bergen-Bogart  land,  later  the  Johnson  estate,  and 

beyond,  on  a  knoll  overlooking  the  East  river,  the  Walla- 

bouters  in  1660  built  a  blockhouse,  which  they  called 

When  Kiekout,  or  Lookout.  The  site  was  a  stopping  place  for 
Capt.  Kidd  .  ,         ,       ,    u       1  •      5  1 

Passed  By  Captain  Kidd,  when  that  bold  and  notorious  gentleman 

was  pursuing  a  courtship  at  Bushwick.  The  old  block- 
house was  included  in  a  farm  acquired  by  Jean  Meserole, 
who  came  from  Picardy,  France,  in  1663. 

For  more  than  a  century  the  name  of  Rapalje  was 
identified  with  the  ancestral  farm,  the  land  passing  from 
son  to  son's  son.  In  1755,  however,  the  homestead 
passed  to  Martin  Schenck,  husband  of  a  great  grand- 
daughter of  the  original  Joris,  and  herself  a  Rapalje.  At 
the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  old  farm  at  the  Wallabout 
was  the  Martin  Schenck  farm.  Martin  Schenck,  Jr.,  sold 
to  the  Government  the  Naval  Hospital  grounds,  and  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Francis  Skillman,  sold  a  parcel  to  Samuel 
Jackson.  Meanwhile  the  Nostrands,  descendants  of  early 
Flatbush  settlers,  came  upon  the  scene,  and  Garret  Nos- 
trand  acquired  from  Daniel  Rapalje  in  1765  a  tract  which 
would  lie  to-day  between  Nostrand  and  Bedford  avenues, 
and  which  was  handed  down  to  the  Nostrands  of  old  East 
Brooklyn. 

The  Remsens  were  prominent  Wallabouters  during 
the  Revolution.  On  the  East  side  of  the  bay  were  the 
homesteads  of  William  and  Abraham  Remsen.    On  the 


Page  Fourteen 


WAAL-BOGT  Grows 


EAST  BROOKLYN 


The  Old  Remsen  Farmhouse 

West  side  was  Remsen's  mill.  The  farm  land  adjoining 
the  bay  was  used  during  the  British  occupation  as  the 
camping  ground  of  enemy  soldiers,  but  there  were 
patriots  in  the  community,  unawed  by  the  soldiery.  In 
1780  Major  H.  Wyckoff,  an  American  officer,  was 
hidden  for  two  days  in  an  upper  room  of  Rem  A. 
Remsen's  house,  while  a  British  lieutenant  of  the  prison 
ship  Jersey,  was  quartered  below.  Remsen  finally  helped 
Wyckoff  to  escape.  Meanwhile  there  were  enlisted  with 
the  Colonial  forces  young  men  of  the  Wallabout,  among 
them  William  Boerum,  Isaac  Boerum  and  Rem  A. 
Remsen.  To-day  the  name  of  Abram  Remsen  Boerum, 
in  the  list  of  trustees  of  the  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank, 
is  a  reminder  of  the  patriotic  past. 

As  late  as  1804  the  settlement  at  the  Wallabout  had 
but  eight  dwellings.  It  was  a  farming  community,  as 
it  had  been  for  150  years.    Generation  after  generation 

P  eg  e  Fifteen 


WAAL-BOGT     Grows  :     EAST  BROOKLYN 


had  come  and  gone,  tilling  the  soil  and  raising  tobacco, 
wheat,  corn,  barley,  peaches,  potatoes,  and  probably  a 
goodly  representation  of  the  variety  of  produce  that  is 
in  evidence  at  the  Wallabout  to-day,  under  vastly  different 
conditions  and  circumstances. 

The  expansion  of  Wallabout  to  a  city's  estate  came 
Absorbs  1  J 

the  Village   after  1830,  and  from  about  that  year  to  i860  the  section 

was  known  as  East  Brooklyn.     It  was  in  1834  that 

Brooklyn  received  its  charter  as  a  city,  and  Wallabout, 

or  East  Brooklyn,  was  an  integral  part  of  the  city.  From 

a  population  of  9,000  in  1823,  Brooklyn  grew  to  36,233 

in  1840.    The  steamboat  had  come,  steam  ferryboats 

churned  the  waters  of  the  East  river,  the  Long  Island 

railroad  was  started,  churches  and  banks  were  built,  and 

real  estate  boomed. 


The  Old  Boerum  Homestead 

Page  Sixteen 


W  A  A  L  -  B  O  G  T  Grows 


EAST  BROOKLYN 


The  Navy  Yard  came  to  the  Wallabout  and  the  shore 
marshes  were  filled  in.    In  1800  John  Jackson  sold  part 
of  his  Wallabout  farm  land  to  the  Government,  and  in 
1827  the  work  of  enclosing  the  Yard  began.    From  1841  Then 
to  18  ci  the  construction  of  the  stone  dry  dock  at  the  SorT 

.  i  t  •        Navy  Yard 

Navy  Yard  was  in  progress,  and  it  took  a  year  to  drive 
9,000  piles  for  the  foundation. 

Along  came  industry.  Wallabout  creek  was  bulk- 
headed,  and  rafts  of  lumber  moved  up  the  stream  to 
Johnson  &  Spader's  lumber  yard.  A  coal  yard,  a  sul- 
phur factory,  and  in  1830,  a  famous  old  rope-walk,  built 
of  brick  and  operated  by  steam — Tucker's  rope  factory 
— altered  the  landscape.  A  distillery  was  built  on 
Skillman  street  and  another  on  Franklin  avenue,  both 
between  Park  and  Flushing  avenues.  The  distilleries  and 
their  grains  encouraged  another  industry — dairying. 
East  Brooklyn  was  noted  for  its  dairies  in  the  forties, 
and  the  abundant  springs  of  the  section  were  utilized 
for  cooling  the  milk  and  cream. 

The  milk  business  brought  artisans  and  shops  to 
Flushing  avenue — blacksmiths,  wheelwrights  and  feed 
stores.  Gardner's  tannery  was  built  at  the  western  end 
of  the  Wallabout  road,  and  there  went  the  hides.  For 
a  long  time  the  only  building  in  that  vicinity  had  been 
the  old  Boughton  homestead,  an  ancient  little  house  that 
has  survived  into  the  twentieth  century,  a  relic  in  the 
back  yard  of  a  densely  populated  block  on  Cumberland 
street,  near  Flushing  avenue.  The  Boughton  property 
had  a  beautiful  rose  garden,  whence  strolled  old  folk  and 
young  of  a  fine  Sunday  afternoon. 

Page  Seventeen 


/^a-n  ffcecfJcU^^ 


AS  THE V  SIGNED  200  YEARS  \CO  ON  A  QUIT-CLAIM  DEED  OF  JAN.  7,  1723 


WAAL-BOGT     Grows  :     EAST  BROOKLYN 


Farms  and  dairies  gave  way  to  the  modern  city.  For 
some  years,  the  growth  of  East  Brooklyn  was  concen- 
trated north  of  Myrtle  avenue,  and  that  street,  as  well 
The  as  Flushing  avenue,  experienced  a  mercantile  prosperity 
jL*™  that  made  it  for  a  time  an  important  business  thorough- 
fare of  the  city.  Block  after  block  of  brick  buildings, 
with  stores,  were  erected,  and  the  old  inhabitants  marveled 
at  the  changes.  The  development  south  of  Myrtle  ave- 
nue came  after  the  forties.  As  late  as  1842  the  territory 
from  Myrtle  avenue  to  Fulton  street,  and  from  Fort 
Greene  to  Division  avenue,  contained  but  thirty  houses. 


Old  Ship  House  at  the  Navy  Yard 

NAVY  SHIPS  WERE   CONSTRUCTED  UNDER  COVER,  AND  THE 
SHIP  HOUSE  WAS  LONG  A  FAMILIAR  ITEM  OF  THE  YARD'S 
EQUIPMENT 


Page  Eighteen 


1 860:  SAMUEL  C.  BARNES  Starts  a  BANK 


Schoolmaster 


IN  the  year  that  Brooklyn  became  a  city,  and  East 
Brooklyn  became  a  part  of  it,  in  1834,  Samuel  C. 
Barnes  came  to  East  Brooklyn.  He  was  from  Ireland. 
He  had  not  set  out  to  make  this  his  home,  but  the  place 
pleased  him.  Educated  at  Foyle  College,  he  found  a 
place  for  his  talents  as  the  Wallabout  village  schoolmaster. 

He  was  a  remarkable  character — a  strong  character,  Samuel 
as  a  glance  at  his  picture  must  suggest.  He  was  more  than 
a  pedagogue.  He  became  an  adviser  of  the  people.  A 
believer  in  hard  discipline,  an  earnest  worker,  puritanical 
perhaps,  but  sincere  in  his  worship  of  integrity,  he  became 
a  force  for  good  among  the  parents  of  the  children  he 
taught.    Thrift  he  espoused  as  a  cardinal  virtue. 

A  lecture  that  he  delivered  in  1856,  at  the  Wallabout 
Presbyterian  Church  on  Franklin  Avenue,  on  the  subject, 
Wallabout  and  the  Wallabouters,  is  still  preserved,  and 
it  reveals  a  portrait  of  the  man  himself.  Said  the  good 
Mr.  Barnes  in  the  course  of  his  lecture: 

The  inhabitants  in  the  olden  time  were  singularly  plain  in  attire 
and  manners,  and  in  speech,  yet  did  they  manifest  for  each  other  a 
degree  of  genuine  friendship  now  rarely  observable  in  modern  Wal- 
labouters.  For  instance,  when  one  had  cut  his  winter's  store  of  wood, 
his  neighbor  stood  ready  with  his  team  to  assist  in  carrying  it  home; 
or,  if  he  needed  help  in  his  harvesting,  it  was  cheerfully  given,  and 
as  cheerfully  reciprocated,  when  there  was  occasion. 

And  the  corn  husking  and  the  spinning  frolic  witnessed  the  same 
neighborly  feeling.  At  the  latter,  the  thrifty  housewife  and  buxom 
daughter  attended  with  their  wheels,  and  there  was  a  merry  hum  of 
spindles,  and  mingling  of  happy  voices,  till  the  flax  or  wool  of  the 
hostess  was  converted  into  thread. 

Ah,  byegone  days  of  true  social  happiness! 

But  I  think  I  hear  some  modern  belle  asking  what  that  was.  A 
wheel,  miss,  yes,  a  veritable  spinning  wheel,  which  the  noble  daugh- 
ters of  the  old  Wallabouters  were  not  ashamed  to  play  on,  for  the 

Page  Sinetecn 


18  6  0:   S  A  M  UEL   C.   BARNES  Starts  a  BANK 


purpose  of  preparing  the  wherewithal  to  clothe  themselves,  their 
fathers,  husbands  and  brothers. 

Samuel  C.  Barnes  was  principal  of  old  No.  4,  a  school 
built  in  1836  for  the  Wallabout  district,  on  Classon  avenue, 
near  Flushing.  The  building  exemplified  advanced  ideas 
in  school  architecture  for  those  days,  being  two  stories  in 
height.  The  second  story  was  not  needed  at  the  time,  for 
there  were  pupils  enough  to  occupy  only  one  floor;  but 
in  later  years  the  policy  of  the  authorities  of  the  village 
was  found  to  have  been  wise  foresight. 

While  filling  the  duties  of  schoolmaster,  Mr.  Barnes 
ever  impressed  upon  pupil  and  parent  the  precepts  of 
thrift.  In  the  course  of  time  there  came  an  inspiration  to 
organize  a  scheme  of  systematic  saving.  Canvassing  the 
community,  he  obtained  support,  and  started  the  East 
Brooklyn  Accumulating  Fund  Association.  He  was  its 
secretary,  and  kept  its  accounts. 

It  was  out  of  this  association  that  came  the  idea  of  a 
for  a  Bank  mutual  savings  bank  in  the  district,  and  in  i860  Samuel 
C.  Barnes  secured  a  charter  for  an  institution  to  be  known 
as  the  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank.  In  the  following 
year  the  bank  opened  its  books  for  business. 

Mr.  Barnes  was  the  first  treasurer  of  the  bank.  The 
treasurer  was  the  active  executive  officer  of  those  days, 
the  presidency  being  in  the  nature  of  an  honorary  office. 
And  when  the  pupils  of  old  No.  4  grew  up,  some  of  them 
carried  on  the  work  of  their  preceptor  in  the  bank,  as  offi- 
cers and  trustees.  Thomas  J.  Atkins,  president  from  1907 
to  1909,  was  one  of  Mr.  Barnes'  old  pupils.  So,  too,  was 
John  H.  Graham,  trustee  from  1886  to  1895,  and  father 

Page  Twenty 


1860:  SAMUEL  C.  BARNES  Starts  a  BANK 


John  H.  Ireland 

WHO  DIED  JAN.  14,  1922.   TRUSTEE,  1892- 
1920;     SECOND     VICE-PRESIDENT,  1907- 
1909;    FIRST   VICE-PRESIDENT  1909-1920. 
(RESIGNED) 


of  William  A.  Graham,  now 
vice-president  of  the  bank.  So, 
too,  was  John  H.  Ireland,  who 
passed  away  in  January,  1922, 
in  his  85th  year.  Mr.  Ireland 
attended  No.  4,  under  Mr. 
Barnes,  for  nine  years.  Subse- 
quently he  served  the  bank  for 
28  years  as  a  trustee,  and  up  to 
1920,  when  he  retired,  was  first 
vice-president. 

Mr.  Ireland  retained  to  the 
last  a  vivid  mental  picture  of  his 
schooldays.  He  was  one  of  the 
"older  boys"  when  Mr.  Barnes 
was  keeping  the  books  of  the  Accumulating  Fund 
Association,  and  he  was  also  one  of  the  pupils  selected 
to  write  names  and  deposits  in  the  books.  Thus  the 
savings  bank,  when  it  came,  had  an  intimate  meaning, 
even  for  the  children.  It  was  of  the  community — not 
a  thing  apart — and  belonged  to  old  and  young  alike. 

The  community  had  profound  respect  for  Samuel  C. 
Barnes.  Mr.  Ireland  recalled  that  the  schoolmaster  and  the 
minister  were  exceptions  to  the  rule  of  calling  everybody 
in  the  neighborhood  by  their  first  names — Tom,  Jim, 
John  and  Sam.  But  it  was  never  Sam  Barnes.  The  school- 
master was  Mr.  Barnes,  as  the  minister  of  the  Wallabout 
Presbyterian  Church  was  Mr.  Greenleaf.  Shortly  before 
he  died  Mr.  Ireland  related: 


The  Late 
Mr.  Ireland's 
Recollections 


GNATLRES  ON  THE  DEED  OF 


1860:   SAMUEL  C.   BARNES  Starts  a  BANK 


Mr.  Barnes  was  a  strict  disciplinarian  in  the  school.  He  was  a 
firm  believer  in  the  doctrine  that  sparing  the  rod  means  spoiling  the 
child,  as  most  of  us  could  testify.  But  he  was  impartial,  treating  the 
children  of  the  rich  and  of  the  poor  alike.  He  was  thorough  in  the 
rudiments;  particularly  so  in  spelling,  etymology,  penmanship  and 
grammar.  Every  pupil,  old  enough,  was  obliged  to  take  a  spelling 
lesson  every  morning.  I  remember  well  how  the  boys  and  girls  were 
ranged  around  the  room  for  this  lesson.  He  would  give  a  prize  to 
the  pupil  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  class  at  the  end  of  the  month, 
thus  stimulating  our  efforts.  In  the  writing  lessons,  every  pupil  must 
hold  the  pen  in  a  correct  position,  and  if  caught  holding  it  otherwise, 
would  receive  a  sharp  rap  over  the  knuckles  with  the  ruler.  For  thus 
taking  pains,  the  pupils  usually  turned  out  to  be  good  penmen. 

Mr.  Barnes  was  not  only  particular  about  us  intellectually,  but 
he  gave  us  good  advice  about  our  habits  and  morals.  As  children  we 
rather  feared  Mr.  Barnes  than  loved  him,  but  as  we  grew  to  be  men 
we  came  to  feel  for  him  not  only  great  respect,  but  great  attachment. 


Old  No.  4  Schoolhouse — Birthplace  of  the  Bank 

THE   BARNES  SCHOOL  WHICH   STOOD  ON  CLASSON   AVENUE,   NEAR  FLUSHING 

Page  Tioenty-t  <ui  o 


1922:  The  BANK  and  ITS  New  HOME 


THE  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank  and  the  Civil  War 
started  almost  simultaneously.  For  Sumter  was  fired 
upon  April  12,  1861.  On  the  following  day,  April  13, 
the  first  dollar  was  deposited  in  the  bank.  Possibly  Mr. 
Barnes  and  his  associates  had  misgivings  as  to  whether 
they  had  launched  their  little  financial  craft  at  an 
opportune  time,  but  they  sailed  ahead  resolutely,  and 
the  period  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  proved  to  be  one  Through 
of  popular  savings.  The  bank  demonstrated  that  it  had  war^' 
the  sturdiness  of  the  people  who  founded  the  community. 
Strong  in  its  sponsors  and  management,  it  grew  in  the 
confidence  of  the  people  it  served,  and  outrode  every 
financial  storm. 

During  the  Civil  War  the  bank  was  open  for  busi- 
ness only  on  Monday,  Wednesday  and  Saturday  evenings. 
In  1869  it  nad  grown  worthy  of  regular  banking  hours, 
and  of  a  home  of  its  own.  In  nine  years  the  deposits 
expanded  thirty  fold — from  $14,450  on  January  1,  1862, 
to  $504,594  on  January  1,  1871.  In  the  next  twenty 
years  the  deposits  tripled,  and  in  each  decade  of  the  last 
thirty  years,  1891  to  192 1,  they  doubled.    The  record: 


January  1,  1862    $14,450 

January  1,  1871    504,594 

January  1,  1881    585,701 

January  1,  1891    1,760,375 

January  1,  1901    3,308,676 

January  1,  1911   6,796,501 

January  1,  1922    15,205,880 


The  first  bank  building  was  erected  in  1873,  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Myrtle  and  Franklin  avenues,  across 
the  street  from  the  bank's  original  location.    Now,  forty- 


1922:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


nine  years  later,  the  bank  enters  again  a  new  home,  the 
structure  just  completed  at  Bedford  and  DeKalb  avenues. 
The  new  building  is  partly  in  the  old  Cripplebush 
The  Site  road,  where  it  turned,  partly  on  the  old  Garret 
°  New  Home  Nostrand  farm,  north  of  DeKalb  avenue,  and  partly  also 
on  the  Teunis  Johnson  farm,  to  the  south.  The  Garret 
Nostrand  farm,  at  the  time  this  area  was  cut  into  city  lots, 
extended  north  to  Flushing  avenue,  between  Bedford  and 
Nostrand  avenues.  Adjoining  it  on  the  west  was  the  John 
Skillman  farm,  extending  to  Franklin  avenue.  Both  were 
embraced  in  the  original  Rapalje  tract.  East  of  the  Nos- 
trand farm  lay  the  Henry  Boerum,  Rapelye,  Vandervoort, 
Meserole  and  Delmonico  lands.  The  home  of  the  later 
Rapelyes  stood  on  the  Cripplebush  road,  about  at  the 
present  crossing  of  Stockton  street  and  Marcy  avenue. 
The  Delmonico  farm,  a  strip  about  a  mile  and  a  half  long 


The  Rapelye  Home 

LANDMARK  OF  A   CENTURY  AGO,  ON   THE  CRIPPLEBUSH  ROAD 


1922:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


and  500  feet  wide,  reached  from  about  Walton  street  to 
Putnam  avenue,  parallel  to  Broadway.  It  was  from  here 
that  the  celebrated  restaurateur  procured  much  of  the 
produce  for  his  tables. 

When  Mr.  Ireland  was  a  boy,  he  earned  his  first  dol- 
lar, as  he  said,  picking  up  potatoes,  at  a  cent  a  bushel, 
on  the  farm  of  Martin  Ryerson,  west  of  Bedford  avenue, 
between  Gates  avenue  and  Monroe  street.    He  related: 

I  well  remember  the  Henry  Boerum  farm,  east  of  Nostrand  The 
avenue.    There  was  a  lane  leading  from  Nostrand  avenue,  near  Boerum 
DeKalb,  to  what  was  known  as  Boerum's  woods.  These  woods  began  Farm 
about  Tompkins  and  Lafayette  avenues,  running  east  some  distance 
and  south  to  Quincy  street.    Mr.  Boerum  had  a  fine  orchard.  He 
also  had  a  very  fine  dog.    My  father  lived  on  Mr.  Boerum's  farm 
near  the  lane,  and  the  land  we  had  ran  back  toward  Marcy  avenue 
and  joined  Mr.  Boerum's  orchard.    My  visits  to  the  orchard  would 
probably  have  been  more  frequent  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  dog. 

Teunis  Cowenhoven  had  a  farm  that  lay  west  of  Bed- 
ford avenue,  on  either  side  of  Quincy  street,  and  turned 
north  on  either  side  of  Classon  avenue,  to  beyond  DeKalb. 
Mr.  Cowenhoven  lived  originally  at  Bedford  avenue  and 
Quincy  street.  He  built  for  himself  a  huge  square  house 
at  Classon  and  DeKalb  avenues,  which  he  never  completed, 
and  which,  in  1884,  was  acquired  by  the  Williamsburg 
Athletic  Club,  in  its  day  the  premier  athletic  club  of 
Brooklyn. 

The  East  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank,  since  its  inception, 
has  had  seven  presidents.  The  first  was  Dr.  James  H. 
Hutchins,  who  served  in  1861.  Then  followed  Stephen 
Crowell,  1861  to  1879;  Darwin  R.  James,  1879  to  I9°7i 
Thomas  J.  Atkins,  1907  to  1909;  Lester  W.  Beasley, 
1909  to  191 1 ;  Eugene  F.  Barnes,  191 1  to  192 1,  and 
David  Morehouse  since  192 1. 

Page  Twenty-five 


PRESIDENT,  1911-192! 


1  9  2  2:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


Dr.  Hutchins,  the  first  president,  was  a  popular  phy- 
sician of  the  neighborhood,  and  a  respected  citizen.  He 
remained  as  president  but  less  than  a  year,  however,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Stephen  Crowell,  who  served  eighteen 
years.  Mr.  Crowell  was  a  shipbuilder,  and  president  also 
of  the  Phenix  Insurance  Co.  of  Brooklyn. 

Darwin  R.  lames,  the  third  president,  had  the  dis- 

. J         '  ,  r  '  Presidents 

tinction  of  serving  28  years  in  the  office.  He  was  a  man  of  the  Bank 
of  strong  personality,  who  brought  much  to  the  institu- 
tion, for  by  his  business  acumen  and  sound  common  sense 
he  inspired  confidence  among  his  associates  and  depositors 
— confidence  that  stood  the  bank  in  good  stead  in  times 
of  widespread  financial  stress.  Born  in  Williamsburg, 
Mass.,  in  1834,  he  became  a  resident  of  Williamsburg, 
later  Brooklyn,  in  1847.  He  came  of  Puritan  stock,  and 
possessed  the  traits  of  character  of  his  sterling  ancestors. 

He  began  his  business  career  as  clerk  and  salesman, 
serving  successively  in  three  large  wholesale  houses,  all 
of  which  succumbed  to  financial  reverses,  the  last  in  the 
panic  of  1857.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  launched,  with 
Mitchell  N.  Packard,  a  partnership  in  1858,  to  deal  in 
indigo,  spices  and  East  Indian  goods.  The  courageous 
venture  was  successful,  and  grew  into  a  business  of  inter- 
national consequence.  Mr.  James  in  the  meantime  be- 
came affiliated  with  the  Republican  party,  and  attained 
a  high  place  in  the  councils  of  the  party,  at  the  same  time 
rendering  public  service  in  various  connections.  He 
served  two  terms  as  a  Representative  in  Congress,  and  was 
for  many  years  a  member  of  the  U.  S.  Board  of  Indian 
Commissioners,  under  appointment  by  President  Harrison. 

Page  Twenty-seven 


1922:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


Thomas  J.  Atkins,  the  fourth  president,  attained  the 
office  after  making  his  own  way  in  the  world,  and  be- 
coming a  business  man  of  large  interests  in  the  firm  of 
Sargent  &  Co.,  with  which  he  grew  up  from  boyhood. 
By  coincidence,  John  H.  Graham,  a  contemporary  trus- 
tee in  the  bank,  was  employed  with  Atkins  as  a  boy  by 
Sargent  &  Co.  Mr.  Graham  subsequently  established  the 
firm  of  John  H.  Graham  &  Co.,  manufacturers'  agents  in 
hardware.  Lester  W.  Beasley,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Atkins 
in  the  presidency,  is  well  remembered  as  a  supervisor  and 
supervisor-at-large  in  the  old  Kings  County  government. 

Eugene  F.  Barnes  was  a  son  of  Samuel  C.  Barnes. 
^Founder  ^e  succeeded  his  father  in  the  treasurership  in  1873,  when 
the  elder  Mr.  Barnes  died,  and  served  in  that  office 
until  191 1,  when  he  became  president.  Eugene  entered 
the  employ  of  the  bank  as  an  office  boy,  at  $2  a  month, 
when  it  started,  and  his  account  was  No.  6  on  the  books. 
He  devoted  his  entire  life  to  the  bank,  and  saw  it  safely 
through  three  financial  panics.  He  was  president  when 
he  died,  January  31,  192 1.  He  had  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  chairman  of  Group  V  of  the  Savings  Banks 
Association  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  he  held  the 
office  for  five  successive  terms. 

David  Morehouse,  who  was  elected  president  of  the 
bank  as  the  successor  of  Mr.  Barnes  early  in  192 1,  has 
served  the  institution  virtually  all  his  life,  rising  from 
clerical  duties  to  teller,  to  treasurer,  and  finally  to  presi- 
dent. In  his  youth  he  was  a  clerk  for  nine  years  in  the 
New  York  office  of  Powers  &  Weightman,  Philadelphia 
chemists.     He  came  to  the  Bank  in  1884.     He  and 

Page  Twenty-eight 


1922:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


Eugene  F.  Barnes  were  the  only  treasurers  the  bank  had 
in  a  span  of  48  years,  from  1873  to  192 1.  In  fact,  there 
have  been  but  four  treasurers  in  the  entire  history  of  the 
bank — Samuel  C.  Barnes,  Eugene  F.  Barnes,  David  More- 
house and  the  present  treasurer, 
Herbert  R.  Seaman.  Alfred 
G.  Freeman  is  now  assistant 
treasurer. 

Three  generations  of  Gra- 
hams have  served  as  trustees  of 
the  bank.  Samuel  Graham  was 
a  trustee  from  1865  to  x879;  a 
son,  Col.  John  H.  Graham, 
soldier  in  the  Civil  War,  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress  in  1892- 
94,  and  in  his  boyhood  a  pupil 
in  the  Barnes  school,  was  a 
trustee  from  1886  to  1895;  a 
grandson,  William  A.  Graham, 
has  been  a  trustee  since  1895. 
Two  other  trustees  are  descended  from  the  early  set- 
tlers at  the  Wallabout — Abram  Remsen  Boerum  and 
Henry  Boerum  Vanderveer.  Mr.  Vanderveer  has  lived 
all  his  life  on  the  estate  of  his  ancestors.  His  property 
at  Nostrand  and  Vernon  avenues  was  a  part  of  the  origi- 
nal Rapalje  land,  and  was  acquired  by  his  family  from 
Jeronimus  Rapalje  on  September  4,  1694. 

Edgar  J.  Phillips,  trustee  since  1906,  has  been  counsel 
for  the  bank  for  twenty-five  years,  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Phillips  &  Avery. 


Henry  Von  Glahn 


TRUSTEE  AND  MEMBER  OF  FUNDING 
COMMITTEE  AND  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 
SINCE  1898.  THE  BANK'S  REAL  ESTATE 
AUTHORITY — AND  THE  BANK  HAS  NEVER 
LOST  A  DOLLAR  ON  ITS  BOND  AND  MORT- 
GAGE INVESTMENTS. 


1  9  2  2:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


The  roll  of  trustees  that  the  bank  has  had  is  a  roll  of 
honor — honor  for  the  bank  as  well  as  for  those  who  have 
served.  To  some  the  names  must  be  merely  names;  to 
others  the  names  mean  personalities  that  have  imparted 
character  to  the  bank. 

So  it  is  fitting  that  the  new  home  of  the  institution 
should  be  a  building  of  character, — a  building  to  impress 
even  the  casual  observer  not  familiar  with  the  traditions. 
And  it  is  a  building  of  character.  Its  materials  have  been 
assembled  from  far  and  near,  selected  with  a  view  to 
strength,  harmony  and  beauty.  Koch  &  Wagner  were 
the  architects. 

The  exterior  walls  are  of  South  Dover  marble,  from 
New  York  State;  the  base  of  polished  Green's  Landing 
granite  from  Vermont.  The  interior  of  the  banking 
room  is  finished  in  Tavernelle  marble  from  Italy,  and 
Caenstone  from  France.  The  floor  of  the  banking  room, 
in  the  public  space,  is  of  Tennessee  marble.  The  bank- 
ing screen,  behind  which  are  the  tellers  and  bookkeepers, 
is  of  Tavernelle  marble  and  bronze.  All  the  furnishings 
in  the  banking  room  are  of  metal.  Overhead  the  length 
of  the  building  is  a  high  barrel- vaulted  ceiling.  High- 
arched  windows  admit  a  flood  of  daylight,  and  what 
artificial  lighting  is  to  be  had  in  the  banking  room  is 
entirely  indirect. 

The  building  is  entirely  of  fireproof  construction. 
In  the  basement  are  men's  and  women's  rest  and  locker 
rooms,  a  committee  room,  a  bank  examiners'  room,  sta- 
tionery room,  kitchenette,  boiler  room,  and  space  for  a 
safe-deposit  vault.    The  trustees'  room  is  on  the  banking 


1  922:    The    BANK    and    ITS    New  HOME 


floor,  finished  in  Tudor  Period,  with  American  walnut. 
The  president's  office,  also  on  the  banking  floor,  is 
in  Georgian  Period,  with  American  walnut. 

The  money  and  security  vault,  of  reinforced  concrete, 
has  a  steel  lining  2V2  inches  thick,  doors  of  impenetrable 
chrome  steel,  non-burnable,  15  inches  thick,  with  24 
three-inch  throw-bolts.  An  intricate  system  of  burglar 
alarms,  with  electric  devices  for  locking  and  unlocking 
doors  for  employees  in  the  banking  room,  permeates  the 
entire  building.  Three  dozen  separate  contracts  have 
contributed  to  construction. 

The  general  architecture  is  Italian  Renaissance.  The 
high  columns,  the  arched  windows,  the  bold  lines  of  the 
entablature  and  parapet  make  an  impressive  exterior.  The 
selection  of  materials  and  studied  effects  make  an  appeal- 
ing interior.  Both  without  and  within  the  building  is  an 
artistic  and  worthy  addition  to  Brooklyn's  banking  institu- 
tions, and  one  of  the  finest. 

Come  to  the  crossing  of  Bedford  and  DeKalb  avenues, 
and  see,  on  the  southeast  corner,  where  turned  the  old 
Cripplebush  road,  the  new  home  of  the  East  Brooklyn 
Savings  Bank. 


AY6RV 


